Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu addresses Fellow Nigeria Protester 2024
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Addresses to the 2024 Protest in Abuja to Fellow Saying On behalf of the Nigerians Government I speak to you today with a heavy heart and sense of responsibility aware of the turo and violent protests Unleashed in some of our states notably among the protesters were young Nigerians who desired a better and more Progressive country where their dreams hope and personal aspirations will be fulfilled I am especially pained by the losses of lives in Born, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and other states the destruction of facilities in some states and the Looting of supermarkets and shops contrary to the promise of protest Organizers that the protest will be peaceful across the country and the destruction of properties set us back as a nation as scar resources will be again used to restore them I commemorate with the families and relations of those who have died and the protest we must stop for that Bloodshed violence and destruction as the president of this country.
I must ensure public order in line with the Constitutional to protect the lives and property of every citizen our government will not stand idly by and allow a few with a clear political agenda to tear this nation apart under the circumstances I hereby enjoin protesters and the organizers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue which I have always aced to at the lightest opportunity Nigeria requires all arms on deck and need all regardless of each party tribe religion or other to walk together reshaping our destiny as a nation so those who have taken under advantage of this situation to threaten any section of this country be warned the Law will catch up with you/
Again there is no place for ethnic bigotry or such threats in Nigeria we seek to build our democracy progress when the constitutional rights of every Nigerian are respected and protected, and our law enforcement agencies should continue to ensure full protection of the life and properties of innocent citizens in a responsible manner my vision for our country is one of a just and prosperous Nation where each person may enjoy the peace freedom and meaningful livelihood that only Democratic good governance can provide one that is open transparent and accountable to the Nigerian people.
For decades our economy has remained anemic and taken a deep because of many misalignments that have stunted our growth just over a year ago our country Nigeria reached a point where we couldn't afford to continue the use of temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn Generations I therefore took the painful yet necessary decision to remove her subsidy and abolish multiple foreign exchange system which had consulted a news around the economic juggler of our nation and our Economic Development and progress these actions block the greedy and the profit that SML and R seek C made they also block the undue subsidy we had extended to our neighboring countries to the detriment of our people rendering our economy prostate these decisions are made were necessary if we must revise the Decades of Economics mismanagement that didn't serve us well yes I agree the Box stops on my table.
I can assure you that I am focused fully on delivering governance to the people, good governance for that matter in the past 14 months our government has made significant strides in rebuilding the foundation of our economy to carry us into a future of Plenty and abundance on the physical side aggregate government revenue as more than double hitting over 91 trillion Naira in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 due to our efforts at blocking leakages introducing Automation and mobilizing fund creatively without additional burden on the people productivity is gradually increasing in the non-oil sector reaching new levels and taking advantage of the opportunities in our current economic Ambience.
My dear brothers and sisters we have come this far coming from a place where our country spent 97% of all our revenue on debt service we have been able to reduce that to 68% in the last 13 months we have also cleared legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about 5 billion without any adverse impact on our programs this has given us more Financial Freedom and a room to spend more money on you our citizens to fund essential Social Services like education and healthcare, it has also led to our state and local government receiving highest allocation ever in our country history from the Federation account we have also embarked on major infrastructure projects across the country we are working to complete inherited projects CRI to economic Prosperity including roads Bridges Railways power oil and gas development notably the Lagos Calabar Costal Highway and soot Badagri Highway projects will open up 16 connecting States creating thousands of jobs and boosting economic output through trade tourism and cultural integration our once-declining oil and gas industry is experiencing a resurgence on the back of the reforms.
I announced in May 2024 that to address the gaps in the Petroleum Industry Act last month we increased our oil production to 1.61 million barrels per day and our gas assets are receiving the attention they deserve investors are coming back and we have already seen two foreign direct Investments signed over half a billion dollars since then fellow Nigerians we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol neglecting its gas resources to power the economy we were also using our hard and foreign exchange to pay for and subsidize the use to address this we immediately launched our compress natural gas initiative CNG to power our transportation economy and bring us down this will save over 2 trillion nairas a month being used to import PMs and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education to this end will be Distributing a million kids of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80% of imported PMs ago, we have started the distribution of conversion kits and setting up of conversion centers across the country in conjunction with the private sector we believe that this CNG initiative will reduce Transportation costs by approximately 60% and help to cope with inflation our Administration assumes its commitment to the youth by setting up the student loan scheme to date 45.6 billion has already been processed for payment to students and their respective institutions.
I encourage more of our vibrant youth population to take advantage of this opportunity we established the Consumer Credit Corporation with over 200 billion to help acquire essential products without the need for immediate cash payment making life easier for millions of households this will consequently reduce corruption and eliminate cash and opaque transactions, this week I order the release of an additional 50 billion naira each to fund the student loan and Credit Corporation for the proceed of crime recovered by the EFCC additionally we have secured $620 million under the digital and creative Enterprises Idis a program to empower our young people creating millions of it and technical jobs that will make them globally competitive this program including the 3 million technical talents scheme unfortunately one of digital centers was finalized during the protest in kano what a shame, in addition we have introduced the skill up ARS program super, the Nigerian Youth Academy near year and the National Youth Talent export program nap also more than 57 billion has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens why 600,000 Nano businesses have benefited from our Nano grants and additional 400,000 more Nano businesses are expected to benefit from, furthermore 75,000 beneficiaries have proed to receive our 1 million micro our small business single digit interest loans than starting this month we have also built 10 MSME hubs within the past year created 24,000 jobs through them and five more hubs are in progress which will be ready by October this year payment of 1 billion each also have been made to large manufacturers under a single-digit loan to boost manufacturing output and stimulate growth.
I signed the national minimum wage into law last week and the lowest earning worker will now earn at least 7,000 nairas a month 6 months ago in Kasana, Abuja I inaugurated the first phase of our ambitious Housing Initiative the Renew Hope City and estate this project is the force of six we have planned across the nation's geopolitical zones each of these cities will include a minimum of 1,000 housing units will Casana itself set to deliver 3,212 units in addition to this city project we are also launching the renew hope estate in every state each comprises in 500,000 units our goal is to complete a total of 100,000,000 units over the next 3 years this initiative is not only about providing homes but also about creating thousands of job Across the Nation as well as stimulating economic growth we are providing incentives to Farmers to increase food production at affordable prices I have directed that taxes and other import duties should be removed on Rice, drugs and other pharmaceutical medical supplies for the next 6 months and the first instance to help drive down the prices I have been meeting with our Governors and key ministers to accelerate food production we've distributed fertilizers our Target is to cultivate more than 10 million heares of land to grow what we eat the federal government will provide all necessary incentives for this initiative, while the state provides the land which will put millions of our people to work and further increase food production in the past few months.
We have also ordered mechanized farming equipment such as tractors and Planters worth billions of Nara from the United States Belarus and Brazil, I can confirm to you that the comment is on the way my dear Nigerian especially our youths I have heard you loud and clear I understand the pain and the frustration that drive this protest and I want to assure you that our government is committed to listening and addressing the concerns of our citizens but we must not let violence and destruction tear our nation apart we must work together to build a brighter future where every Nigerian can live with dignity and prosperity the tax before us is a collective one and I am leading the church as your president a lot of work has gone into stabilizing our economy and I must stay focused on ensuring that the benefit reaches every single Nigerian as we promised.
My Administration is working very hard to improve and expand our national infrastructure and create more opportunities for our young people let nobody misinform and miseducate you about your country or tell you that your government does not care about you although there have been many dashed hopes in the past we are in a new era of renewed hope, we are working hard and the result will soon be visible and concrete for everyone to see feel and enjoy let us work together to build a brighter future for ourselves and for generations to come so let's choose hope over fear Unity over Division and progress over stagnation, the economy is recovering please don't shut out this oxygen now that we have been enjoying Democratic governance for 25 years do not let the extremist enemies of democracy use you to promote a constitutional agenda that will set us back on our Democratic Journey for whatever backward never.
In conclusion, security operatives should continue to maintain peace law and order in our country following the necessary convention on human rights to which Nigeria is a signature the Safety and Security of all Nigerians are Paramount thank God, and thank you for your attention, and may God continue to bless our great nation thank you very much, Mr President, Bols Ahmed Tinubu Said.
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